‘World’s dirtiest man’ who went decades without washing dies aged 94

Amou Haji used to enjoy smoking animal faeces from an old pipe

A man known as the "dirtiest in the world" on account of not washing for several decades has died aged 94, according to Iranian state media. Amou Haji, who managed to go for more than 60 years without cleaning himself due to fears that being clean would make him sick, died Sunday in the village of Dejgah, in the south of the country, IRNA reported. Haji - whose name is actually an endearing moniker for an elderly person- died just months after villagers recently took him to a bathroom to wash, a local official claimed. In a documentary about his bizarre life, Haji said he chose to become dirty after suffering emotional problems as a young man. He then became isolated. Haji's unusual habits didn't end at avoiding soap and water. He also had an aversion to fresh food and liquid and smoked animal faeces from an old pipe, rather than normal tobacco. Rather than eating foods before they perish, Haji was said to have preferred to chow down on rotten porcupine and slurped water from a rusty oil can. Haji lived an isolated life, though locals are said to have built him a brick shack to shelter in after noticing that he had been sleeping in a hole in the ground. His life was immortalised in a short documentary film called 'The Strange Life of Amou Haji' in 2013. If Haji's claims of 60 years without a wash is true, it would make him the world's dirtiest man. An Indian man called Kailash Singh, 67, claimed to have not showered for 39 years, trailing Haji by 21 years. Related stories:

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